Thank You William F. Buckley...Now Just Ride Off Into The Sunset

I want to say that without William F. Buckley and National Review (www.nationalreview.com) there may not be a modern American conservative movement. There may have not been a President Ronald Wilson Reagan. There may never have been a transformation of the Republican party. But, alas, all good things must come to an end.
Mr. Buckley decided, of all places, to air his grievances against President Bush on the CBS Evening News over the weekend.
It is not enough that Mr. Buckley said that Mr. Bush is not a true conservative-he is not in the Reagan model, but he is defiantly a conservative. He also pronounced the Iraq effort in the War Against Terror as a failure and did all of this on the den of the MSM iniquity-CBS!
It is fair to say that Mr Buckley is the Grandfather of the movement that conservatives are today. But, conservatism and the world has changed. It is no longer good to say what we are against, but we should say what we are for. That is what Mr. Reagan did and what Mr. Bush is doing. I admit, I favor more the Reagan approach to government, but it will not happen. It has not happened in 12 years of Republicans controlling congress. It will not happen when they retain congress after the November election. But if we accept some government, lets make it conservative as possible.
Also, I am fearful that because our new enemy is Islamofacism, Mr. Buckley may not have the stomach for the long and hot war that it will be. There will be mistakes made, to be sure, but to not take the fight to the heart of the enemy will only weaken us and we will not win. I commend Mr. Bush for seeing this clearly even if there are steps back. I think that Mr. Bush has got to tell the American people and the world what our enemy is and what we will do to stop it. No more Mr Nice Guy. Time to make an "Evil Empire" speech or a series a la Reagan.
But Mr. Buckley while entitled to his opinion needs to look at the big picture. That conservatism is a collection of different parts and that when they come together, there is no stopping it. When people like Mr. Buckley fall for the liberal-socialist trap and go off the reservation, it weakens the conservative movement.
Now more than ever we need the movement together, especially with the toughest election season since Mr. Bush became president.
Remember that in November. And for Mr. Buckley, you may need to ride off into the sunset and let the new forces of conservatism have its day.